Seafarer leaves high-paying job to manage own business

CEBU, Philippines -  â€œDaghang makwarta basta magkugi lang. Maningkamot ka usa, mosunod ra na ang kita.”

The weaving and shell industries proved to be promising for 36-year old Richard Pulgo who preferred to leave his high-paying job as a seaman and chose to stay in his town to manage his growing business.

Pulgo worked as an overseas Filipino worker for four years. As part of the nautical personnel for a particular ship, he was able to travel in countries in Asia and Africa.

He earned a monthly salary of P40,000 to P60,000. The highest monthly compensation he received as he could remember, was P80,000 back in 2008.

Though his earnings as a seaman seemed to be lucrative to sustain the needs of his family, he shared that the job required tedious labor and demanded him to stay far from his loved ones.

Pulgo graduated Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation at the University of the Visayas in 1994. In 2006, he got married to May Ann Pulgo who is a teacher by profession and they have five children.

To grow their money, the couple ventured into business opportunities such as water refilling station, karaoke bar, carwash, and piggery but turned out unsuccessful.

Pulgo did not lose hope. Last June 22 of 2012, he attended the entrepreneurial development seminar on weaving that was conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry Region 7 in the town of Alcantara.

He soon realized that the raw materials such as coco twigs and coco midribs are present and abundant in the coastal and mountain barangays in Alcantara and neigbouring towns in Ronda, Argao, Badian, and Moalboal.

Due to the availability and accessibility of such materials within his reach, he was then motivated to put up his own business that is inclined to weaving.

With an initial investment of P5,000, he created Pulgo Native Export Resources that sells baskets made of coco twig and coco midrib and raw shells to exporters.

He started to look for qualified people to be part of his labor force. He began with four weavers who were being referred and introduced by the students of his wife.

It was also on July of last year when he sought the help of DTI-7 to conduct a three-day skills training on basket weaving in Alcantara.

A month after, Pulgo Native Export Resources was able to deliver orders for its first export client, the Fortune Baskets.

Pulgo used to recall that his initial income for his business was around P1,800. Now, he was proud to share that he earns an average of  P20 000 every week, depending on the volume of orders of the exporters he serves.

To date, the business caters to five exporters that were recommended by DTI-7 and employs twenty weavers from Argao, Alcantara, Moalboal, and Badian.

The items ordered by existing clients are exported to the international markets in Canada, Korea, Hawaii, and United States.

Describing the industry as a money-spinning business, he cited that Pulgo Native Export Resources produces 500 to 1,000 pieces of baskets in different sizes and designs every week and delivers an average of three to five tons of shells every month.

At present, he has set up a small peddling area for his items in Moalboal wherein Pulgo earns P600 to P1,000 from his local customers every Sunday.

Although driven by his enthusiasm to succeed in his business, Pulgo is tested with struggles such as the seasonal order, high quality standards and delayed payment from exporters.

He manages to overcome such by incorporating variability of items in his product line to attract further exporters as he believes that he has to find a way to pay the wages of his weavers who have become dependent to his business as their means of livelihood.

Through Pulgo Native Export Resources, he is able to invest in a 1300-square meter real estate property in Moalboal and a pawnshop business for cellphones, motor vehicles and other gadgets as an alternative source of income.

He is also eyeing to add items in his product line such as rattan baskets and abaca bags and wallets.

Moreover, he plans to set up his own handicraft and shellcraft store in Moalboal.

Pulgo further expressed gratitude to the active support and continued advocacy of DTI-7 to reach out to the communities in the countryside and promote entrepreneurship.

Until now, he maintains constant communication and regular consultation with DTI-7.

He then advised aspiring entrepreneurs to take advantage of the seminars and trainings initiated by the trade department and apply the learnings after.

Though blessed with the opportunities in such industry, he humbly admitted that he still has a long way to go for his business that is proven to be fruitful in the past months.

Pulgo shared that he still manages to live a simple lifestyle with his family and aims to help his fellow neighbors through his business venture. 

Asked if he still plans to work as a seaman, he expressed his firm intention to devote his time and energy on the hands-on management of sustaining the business that he started.

“For now, I plan to do the dirty job myself. Who knows,” Pulgo stated, who sees himself to be an exporter someday. /JOB (FREEMAN)